Panasonic's new AG-CX350 camcorder

On some of the closeups there is visible AF hunting well after shot starts. He did not use AF for wide shots. I wonder why. Other than that it is impressive to my eyes. I have really liked the skin tones, a lot like Varicam, which I think is great. Remember this is just simple quick and dirty grading. And that is what so many jobs require.
 
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Bassman2003 said:
No worries. I knew that was an educated guess and we won't hold you to it. The camera will need strong ISO performance due to the slower lens. I want to see the PX270 wide open vs the CX350 wide open since the PX has a much faster lens. DOF will be sort of a wash on the wide end given the aperture differences so it will come down to noise levels. I would love to have at least a stop better operational noise performance. Meaning that the CX350 would be as clean as the PX270 at 0db but at a stop higher sensitivity. In the five years of ownership I have never really needed to go beyond 6db. So one more stop would mean never needing to use Neat Video again!!!
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Understood. I don't have a 270 on hand to test against. I have a 250, but as you know the leap from 250 to 270 was huge, so I don't think that would be all that relevant to your question... I seem to recall doing a DOF test between the 250 and the UX180, which would be a comparable 1" f/2.8 to 1/3" f/1.6...

This is totally not what you asked for, but it's what I found so I'll share it. Here's an example of the AC160 at f/4.8 against the UX180 1" at f/4.8 (same f-stop) to show the relative DOF shallowness you can expect when at the same f-stop (which, if the lighting is constant and proper exposure is gotten at at least f/2.8, you should see this situation frequently):
UX vs AC160 at f48.jpg
 
Okay I have now tested with the light meter, and at 1/60 second and f/5.6 iris, my light meter is reading out 1,000 ISO for the AG-CX350 in "NORMAL" exposure mode. When put in HIGH SENS, it gains about one full f-stop's sensitivity which works out to 2000 ISO.
 
I found that the prior picture I was thinking of was actually an AC90 vs UX90, so it's not relevant, so I re-shot this. This is the CX350 at wide angle, wide open f/2.8, vs the HPX250 at wide open, very wide angle, about f/1.7 or f/1.8. It's hard to tell exactly what it's at when it says OPEN, but I think the last reading I saw was f/1.8 before it went "OPEN" so I'm calling it f/1.7, even though I labeled it 1.8 on the picture.
DOF vs HPX250.jpg

Both used macro focus, the lion was about 3" from the front of the glass. To my eyes the CX350 is easily showing notably shallower DOF. Not blow-you-away shallower, but definitely shallower, even after compensating for the HPX250's wider iris.
 
Thanks for the testing Barry. At f2.8 it does look a little shallower. I was considering the camera to be run at f4 a lot due to the relatively quick ramp like the DVX200. A 1" sensor is about as shallow as one wants for these types of cameras imho.
 
The user guide mentions 3rd party wireless adapters can be used instead of the WM50. Does anyone know which 3rd party USB wireless adapters will work? Is there any advantage to buying the high priced $160 Panasonic WM50 over a 3rd party adapter?
 
It is possible that a third party wifi adapter will work, but I don't know if any have been certified that they definitely will work. The advantage to the WM50 regardless of price is the old "buy once, cry once" adage; get the one that works and you'll never have to think about it again.
 
Good info, although it looks like the DWA-171 will just work for those in Australia. No 3rd party adapters confirmed for US market yet.
 
Regarding WiFi adapters, this topic was kicked around for the 270 on this forum and in particular there were a few others that seemed to work for a fraction of the Panny extortion. Many are on the market at around $15 as I recall. Ya, I bought the Panny version because I didn't have the luxury of time to fiddle. If you search around, those threads might be found or possibly a general google search.

Regarding the remote camera operation via Wifi: I attempted to use this when I first got my 270 (about 3 years). Its was buggy attempting to use an iPad. If anyone has tried it more recently with a good measure of success, I'd like to know. It was advertised, it should work.

Ordinarily I am a Panny positive guy, but my wifi experience thus far on Wifi use has been disappointing, but I haven't tried things in a few years. I would love to be pleasantly surprised.
 
The app is certainly better than what was available three years ago, yes. Still a bit laggy, but -- it's a free connection (if you have the adapter) so I don't complain about it.

The wi-fi on the CX350 supports more than just the app connection though; it's also a streaming video output device so you can connect to a wi-fi signal and stream video live off the camera.
 
Thanks to Danilo for the link to the documentation.

Considering his engagement in this thread, is Barry going to write a book about this new cam? Barry?

After looking through the documentation, the scene file color controls seem pretty similar to the 270, so I would look forward to reading (in Barry's forthcoming book) more about how to use those more effectively. Even after owning the 270 for several years, some of the color adjustments seem like deep voodoo since they are so extensive.

Even if he doesn't write a book, I would really enjoy better resources on this. Panny has some info, including a guide to scene files for both the 230 and 270 models. But typical of Panny documents, it leaves a lot to be desired as a bad translation from Japanese engineerspeak.

Grant

Regardless, this might be helpful for owners of the 350.

Link: https://eww.pass.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/content/guide/EN/AJ-PX270_handbook_e.pdf
 
ggrantly said:
Thanks to Danilo for the link to the documentation. Considering his engagement in this thread, is Barry going to write a book about this new cam? Barry?/url]
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You're welcome ggrantly. I hope too that Barry will write a book! This camcorder has a great potential!
 
My new CX350 arrived yesterday and I'm excited to use it on a few event shoots I have this coming week. Just a heads up for any owners of previous Panasonic cameras; the remote zoom control port is a different protocol than previous UX180 / AC160 cameras and I wasn't able to use the same zoom controller that I've owned forever, the Varizoom RockDVX I have an older LANC controller and that does work, but not the RockDVX. In fact, some of the zoom controllers that B&H has listed as accessories are not compatible.
 
Yes, this camera and the EVA1 are a major departure for remote control for Panasonic. All the prior Panasonic handhelds used one type of controller, but starting with the EVA1 and CX350, they now conform to the same LANC standard that Sony and Canon use.
 
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